Improvement in fire-arms



ELLs' Revolver.

N. PErERS,'FHOT0-UYMOGRAPHER. WASMINGTON. D C.

2 Sh eets-Sheet Patented Aprl 28, 1857.

2 Sheet-Sheet 2.

J. ELLS.

Revolver.

Patented April 28, 1857.

' PETERs, PNDTO-UTHOGRAPMER, WASHINGTON. n c.

UNITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE JOSIAH ELLS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEIVENT IN FlRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,143, dated April 28, 1857.

To 'all 'whom it may cmcem Be it known that I, JOSIAH ELLs, ol Pittsburg, in the county of Alle'gheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefullmprovementsinRevolving-Breech Fire- Arms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the anneXed drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side View of the pistol constructed with my improvements, the casing of the handle and one side of the lock-plate being removed to exhibit the Construction and arrangement of the several parts of the lock, which are in the position they occupy before the trigger is drawn back to fire the pistol. Fig. 2 is a similar view to Fig. 1, excepting that the rotating breech is removed and the paris of the lock are in the position they assume when the pistol is cocked and on the point of firing. Fig. 3 represents the lockframe and several parts of the lock in place in their position after the pistol is fired and before the triggeris allowed to recover its first position. This figure shows the side of the lock concealed from viewin Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a front view of the lock-plate through a' x, Fig. 1. Big. 5 is a sectional view of the lockframe through x w, Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a perspective of the rotating chambered breech. Fig. 7 is an end View of Fig. 6. Figs. S and 9 are perspective representations of the hammer and bridle. F'gs. 10 and 11 are pcrspective representations of the trigger. Fig. 12 is the traversing lever. Fig. 13 is the mainspring. Fig. 14 is the trigger-spring. Fig. 15 is the cnsing of the handle. Fig. 16 is the movable side ot' the lock-plate. Fig. 17 is the reverse or inner side of Fig. 16. Fig. 18 is the arbor or axis on which the breech rotates. Fig. 19 is an end View of the head of Fig. 18. Fig. 21 is a side view ofthe lock-plate, showing the reeess. Fig. 20 is a View of the rear ends of the rotating breech, showing the radial grooves.

In the several figures like letters of reference denote corresponding parts.

My improvements in rotating-breech firearms consist in the arrangement of the traverse-lever and its spring, so as to secure them from lateral derangement and permit of its playing on the same center as hammer; also, in the use of a cam in the *lock-plate to withdraw the traverselever from the rotating breech when the trigger is not drawn back; also, the combination of the radi-al beveled grooves in the breech with the traVerse-lever, for rotating and locking the breech when operated by the trigger of a trigger-cockin g lock.

To enable others skilled in the art to 'make and use my improvements in fire-arms, I will proceed to describe more minutely the construction and operation thereof, and in so doing I shall of necessityrefer to several parts of rotating-breeeh fire-arms, some of which are my invention and already secured to me by Letters Patent, and others are common to such fire-arms and need no particular description.

In the several drawings, a is the lock-fame, (shown in skeleton in Fig. 3.) bis the lockplate. c is the barrel, screwed into the fore part of the lock-t'rame a. breech, which is inserted into the lock-frame and held in place by an arbor, e, of the shape shown in Flg. 18. This arbor passes through the fore part ot' the lock-frame a into the center of the recoil-shield f and forms the aXis of the revolving breech.

The lock from a is open on both sides of the rotating breech to allow of its easy insertion or removal, so that by simply drawing out the arbor e the rotating breech is detaehed from the pistol. To prevent the accidental derangement of the rotating breech, the arbor e is kept in place by a spring-bolt, t', (see Figs. 2, 3, and 5,) inserted vertically in a hole bored in the fore part of the lock-plate. Around this bolt i is a spiral spring, which presses upward against the shank ot' the button a. Theupper end of the spring-bolt t has a sharp beveled edge, which projects into the bore in the front of the lock-frane, through which the arbor e passes. The arbor e has two notches, o o', and the beveled edge of the spring-bolt i slips into the notch o when the arbor is passed through the rotating breech and into the notch o' when the arbor is drawn out .to release the rotating breech. To withdraw the arbor e the button n must be pressed downward, which causes the spring-bolt i to recede from the notch 0.

The barrel c is scrcwed into the fore part of the loek-frame, so as to come in contact with d is the revolving.

,' the breech d, the bore ot' the barrel ranging with the bores or ehambers in the rotating breech d. 4

The trigger g is pressed forward by the tri gger-spring s, and has a cocking-arn fnrnished with a vibrating stud, h, Operating on the toe of the hammer k, in eombination with the beveled edge of the hammer, in the manner described in the specifieation ot' my patent of August 1, 1851-.

s' is the mainsp-ing, acting on the h'eel of the hammer by the intervcntion of the bridle Z in the usual nanner.

ln the lock-plate I (see Fig. 21.) is a recess deeper than the plane in which the hammer and trigger work, in which is placed the traverse-levermandhair-springt. Theshapeot'this traverse-lever is shown in Fig. 12. It works in the same center as the hammer k, the hammer-pin x passing through the oval slot u The extremity ot' the traverse-lever m is a rounded point, which projects through a long groove, p, (see Fig. 4,) in the face of the recoilshield at the forward end ot' the loek-plate Z), so as to enter the transverse radial grooves in the rear end of the rotating chambered breech d. A pin, 7', (see Fig. 11,) projects from one side ot' the trigger and enters the small slotv e (see Fig. 12) in the traverse-lever m, which, as the trigger is drawn back, raises the point of the traverse-lever m, causing it to turn on its center at .r. The point ot' the traverse-lever a is pressed forward so as to project into the radial grooves in the rotating breech by.

the hair-spring t, which rests against it, back of the center-pin w, as seen at Fig. 2, when the trigger is drawn back and the hammer raised; but when the trigger is pressed forward in the position shown in Fig. l the traverse-lever m is pressed back so that its point recedes into the recoil shield by means of a camlike projection, w, in the lower part of the recess in the lock-plate, (see Fig. 21,) which comes in contact with the shoulder y of the traverse-lever m, and will not allow it to descend without pushin g it back, the slot u being of such length as to allow its baekward motion over its center-pin ai. Thus the point of the traverse-lever, on the reaction of the trigger g after firing,is`drawn backward outof the radial groove a/ in the rotating breech, which allows it to pass over the edge of one groove, so as to enter the next groove (0 when the trigger is again drawn back for repeated action, as hereinafter explained and when the trigger isin the position showninFig.lthepointofthetraversclever, having receded into the recoil-shield, no longer interlocks with the radial grooves in the rear end of the rotatin g breech, and offers no impediment to its free rotation on its axis or arber.

The grooves a' a', &c., at the rear end of the rotating breech are equal in number to the ehanbers in the breech, and radiate from the center of its circumference. One side of each of these grooves is straight. The other side is chamfered off toward the center of the breech;

but at the circumference both sides are straight, t'orming a narrow groove, into which the point of the traverse-lever m fits closely. The action of the traverse-lever m in these radial grooves a' a &(3., is as follows: As the trigger is drawn back the traverse-lever is raised above the can in the recess of the lock-plate, and the hairspring t presses forward the point of the lever m until it enters one of the radial grooves a'. As it rises farther, by the drawing back of the trigger g the point of the lever m presses against the straight edge ot' the groove and causes the breech to rotate on its arber c until the point of the lever reaches the top of the groove, which is so situated in relation to the chambers of the breech as to bring one of them in exact range with the barrel of the pistol immediately before the fall of the hammer, and as the groove is close at the circnm'ference of the breech the point of the lever m holds the breech d firmly in place and prevents its rotation so long as the trigger is held back. When, ho'wever, the

trigger is released and resumes its first position the point of the traverse-lever m also falls, not, however, in the path of the groove a',- but being drawn back, as before explained, it passes over the ehanifered edge of the groove a', in which it has been engaged, and, leaving it, recedes into the recoil-shield. When next the trigger is drawn back the point of the traverselever m enters the rotatin g breech (l, not in the groove it had left, but on the straight edge of the next groove, a This action will be better understood by reference to Fig. 20, where 1 indicates the position of the point of the lever m when the pistol is fired, and the dotted lines indicate the path of the lever on its descent when the trigger is released, and 2 indicates the point in the next groove where the point of the lever enters when the trigger is again drawn back for repeated fire.

Inorder to prevent the possibility of the accidental discharge of the pistol, which might occur when the hammer rests on the' percussion-eap on one of the nipples of the rotating breech, I make one or more notches, c', in the circumferenee of the rotatin g breech a, between two of the nipples q q, in which notches c' the edge of the hammer is made to enter. When the hammer rests in any one of these notches it is impossible that it should come in contact with any of the nipples q of the rotatingbreech d without the trigger is drawn back a considerable distance; and this arrangement does not interfere with the prompt action of the pistol, as it requires no adj ustment to prepare it for use, for as soon as the trigger is drawn back to the point of the traverse-lever it enters its proper groove andbrings one of the chamhers of the breech in range with the barrel at the moment of firing with unerring certainty.

The hammer k of my pistol is not placed, as is usual in fire-arms, with the center of the hammer in a vertical plane passing through the axis ot' the barrel c and breech d; but it is so placed that one side of the hammer is in 4 that plane, as will be seen by reference to Fig.

4, where w x is in the plane of the axis of the barrehand krepresents the end of the hammer. The object of this arrangement is not only to prevent the hammer being an obstruction in taking aim before firing, as is usually the case in trigger-cocking fire-arm s, but the side of the hammer k, being exactly in the plane of the axis ot' the barrel, it forms astraight edge to sight by, thus giving increased facility for taking accurate aim.

In the specification and the `accompanying drawings I have described my improvement as applied to a pistol; but it is equally applicable to all kinds of fire-arms in which rotary breeches are used.

Having thus described my improvement in revolving fire-arms, what I claim as my invention, and desi'e to secure by Letters Paten t, is

1. The arrangement of the traVerse-lever to permit of its playing on the same center as end of the rotary breeeh as new in emselves;

but I do claim the combinatio f radal beveled grooves in the rear end o --t ee rotating breech with the traverse-lever, as applied to tri gger-cockin g fire-arms, for the purpose of rotating and looking' the breech preparatory to firing, suhstantizlly as hereinbefore described.

JOSIAH ELLS.

Wi tnesses:

.GEO. M. REED, FRED. MCMASTER. 

